'Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light' Recap: Episode 5

Wolf Hall airs Sundays at 8:00 pm and is available to stream. Recap the previous and following episode.
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The court painter Hans Holbein has traveled to Cleves to paint a portrait of Anne, whom King Henry is due to marry in order to cement an alliance with Protestant Germans while England’s antagonists France and the Holy Roman Empire uphold a treaty. Henry learns that Anne is pious and speaks only German, and that German ladies don’t sing, dance, or hunt – some of his own favorite activities. But the match is advantageous; indeed, Henry asks Cromwell to pursue a marriage between his daughter Mary and Anne’s cousin the Duke of Bavaria to further strengthen the alliance.

The duke also only speaks German, so Mary’s meeting with him is conducted through an interpreter – but she does allow him to kiss her on the cheek, after a talk from Cromwell encouraging obedience to her father.

However, rumors in Europe say Henry is forcing Mary into the match, and Cromwell fears that letting her leave England to live in Bavaria could put her in the hands of enemies who wish to depose Henry and restore England to the Catholic Church in Rome by putting Mary on the throne. The Duke of Norfolk chimes in that Cromwell will prevent any match with Mary, alluding to rumors that Cromwell wants her for himself.

Norfolk is increasingly an enemy of Cromwell, even if they have ostensibly made up after a near brawl. The duke worries that Cromwell is going to close the priory that houses the remains of his ancestors.

France and the Holy Roman Empire also don’t like Cromwell, the king tells him. Cromwell warns the king to verify any rumors about Cromwell that he hears from those courts. The king begins reminiscing on the more than ten years Cromwell has spent in his service, thinking back to their first meeting. The king has changed over those years, he says, but Cromwell hasn’t. Cromwell no longer surprises him. He has worked miracles, and yet the king still finds himself missing Cromwell’s predecessor and mentor Cardinal Wolsey.

One of Cromwell’s own proteges is becoming jealous: Wriothesley abruptly leaves the table when Cromwell details plans to send his son Gregory to meet the new queen at Calais to escort her on the rest of her journey. Gregory urges Cromwell to give Wriothesley the occasional kind word.

Wriothesley and Cromwell both try to prevent the king from surprising Anne on her way to meet him, saying she will be unprepared. But the king eagerly insists on going – in costume, no less. Cromwell sends Wriothesley ahead to warn Anne. Nevertheless, Gregory witnesses the meeting and tells Cromwell he should have prevented it: Anne may never be unable to undo that first moment. She didn’t realize the king had entered the room and took a while to turn from the window, then recoiled from Henry – he is older-looking than she had suspected.

When Cromwell next sees the king, Henry raises concerns that Anne is not free to marry, due to a pre-contract made when she was a child. The king also disparages Anne’s looks, despite his councillor Fitzwilliam’s praise of her in letters from Calais. Fitzwilliam tells Cromwell the worries about the pre-contract are an excuse papering over Henry’s dislike of Anne, and warns Cromwell that he won’t be blamed for the bad turn the marriage has taken. Cromwell says it’s Henry’s fault, if anyone’s, for going to surprise her.

But England needs German allies, as several other councillors agree, and both the king and his council signed off on the marriage, Cromwell points out as councillors try to blame him. Still, Henry rages at any target on the morning of his wedding. He kisses only Anne’s cheeks and not her lips during the ceremony. And he fails to perform his duty to provide an heir that evening, complaining that he doesn’t believe Anne is a virgin.

Some good news is that the king’s ambassador has managed to drive a wedge between France and the Holy Roman Empire, by getting the emperor to insult not just Henry but kings generally – including the king of France. However, as Norfolk points out, if the threat from those enemies dissipates, then England doesn’t need German allies, and Henry doesn’t need this marriage.

The chance to reshape the global map of alliances doesn’t come often, though, and Cromwell is determined to seize it in order to cement the Protestant reforms he and the Archbishop Cranmer have ushered in under Henry, by allying England to the Protestant Germans.

Among those reforms is the closure of abbeys, including the one housing Norfolk’s ancestors. The duke yells at Cromwell for closing it, then lambastes him about the king’s marriage. The king wants to be free, he shouts; just look at the way he looks at my niece! Norfolk has had Katherine Howard placed among Anne’s maids, and Cromwell has recognized the danger, keeping her away from Henry until he was safely married to Anne.

Cromwell grabs the knife he keeps under his robes but pauses before using it on the duke. Wriothesley worries that the French, who dislike Cromwell, have made overtures to Norfolk. Cromwell should have broken Norfolk when he brought down his niece, Anne Boleyn, Wriothesley says.

The king calls Cromwell into his chamber for a matter of “some gravity.” Cromwell returns home to find Wriothesley worriedly brandishing a copy of a letter sent by the French ambassador to the French king declaring that Henry is going to take away Cromwell’s many positions. But Cromwell says he instead has good news: the king has given his role of Master Secretary to his proteges Wriothesley and Rafe Sadler, meanwhile making Cromwell himself an earl and giving him another new position. Cromwell is overjoyed, but everyone he wants to tell – Cardinal Wolsey, his abusive blacksmith father – is dead.

Henry still suffers under his marriage and wonders to Cromwell if they could pay off Anne and her brother, the Duke of Cleves. Cromwell worries about the damage doing so would incur on Henry’s reputation. Henry again reminisces, fondly recalling an expedition he took with Cromwell – except that it never happened. Let’s say it did, Cromwell says with a smile.

Later, Wriothesley calls the loyal Rafe from Cromwell’s side as they walk together to a meeting of the king’s council. Other councillors – no friends of Cromwell – fall behind him as they enter the chamber. Cromwell’s rival, Stephen Gardiner, is waiting there, even though he has been removed from the council. He tells Cromwell he will be returned to it “imminently.”

Cromwell sits; no one else does. We don’t sit with traitors, Fitzwiliam says. Cromwell leaps to his feet and begins fighting off the councillors as they descend, Fitzwilliam ripping a chain from Cromwell just as Cromwell once did to him. The Constable of the Tower of London appears to escort Cromwell. Less than two months after being further elevated by Henry, Gardiner tells Cromwell that all his titles are gone.